Take a Number, Man: It’s no secret he’s a hit with the ladies, but actor Gilles Marini is acquiring quite a male fan base. “That’s my bromance for the season,” pro hoofer Tony Dovolani declared to PEOPLE. “We get along so well. We’re both Europeans, we both like soccer, we like a lot of the same things.” For Marini, the feeling is mutual. “Steve-O I love. Tony I love,” Marini declared. “Everyone of us has a little something to tell and to show and to share and it’s like a big bonding.”
Even actor Cristian de la Fuente, who took time out from his starring role in USA Network’s In Plain Sight to root for his former partner Cheryl Burke, is smitten. “I just met him two hours ago and I’m falling in love with him,” de la Fuente said of Marini. “If he had longer hair… I may date him. But he’s married and I’m married and, oh well. But he is cute and he’s got that French accent, you know?” Oh, we know…
Royal Gesture: Lil’ Kim and Derek Hough ignited the studio audience with their high energy “Jailhouse Rock” jive. Kim’s biggest fan Monday night? Pal Queen Latifah, who sprang to her feet and applauded wildly the minute the dance ended. “She’s like my big sister and she is so busy, but she called me and she said, ‘I am coming, I am coming!’” Kim recounted minutes after the show ended. “She said she was in tears she was so proud of me.”
Kim’s partner, Hough, was proud of her, too. “She came up with half the choreography,” Hough revealed. “That routine was choreographed in about two and a half hours. Some routines take days but that one came together so fast. It was such a great team effort.” While their jive brought the house down, it was not without two simultaneous wardrobe malfunctions. The fast-paced routine coupled with Kim’s skimpy outfit caused the hook on her top to come undone while she and Hough were being scored by the judges. At the same time, judge Carrie Ann Inaba was so blown away the duo’s performance, the bracelet she was wearing flew off her right wrist and into the audience. “That was sweet,” Hough said. “I thought she was giving us diamonds. Like here, take this $10,000 bracelet, please.” Alas, no such luck. Inaba retrieved the bauble and affixed it firmly back onto her wrist.
Going Over to the Dark Side: Season 8 is at the halfway mark, but the spray tans may have already gone well over the line. Take good old country boy Chuck Wicks, who readily admits he’s willing to do whatever it takes to be a dancer. “I’m addicted to the spray tans,” Wicks told PEOPLE, much to the chagrin of his girlfriend and dance partner Julianne Hough. “He gets his before I get mine,” Hough jokingly huffed. “I look forward to every Sunday,” continued Wicks. “I love Sundays because Sunday is spray tan day. I wear pants and a towel so they don’t get the spray tan on my pants. I shaved my chest. I did it all this week.”
And the couple managed to look — and dance — the part of the rumba. Wicks and Hough’s mutual passion oozed throughout their dance, which had Inaba and Bruno Tonioli squirming in their seats and fanning themselves. “That’s exactly what we wanted to do,” Wicks said. “We were happy with the Carrie Ann, but a little awkward with the Bruno,” Hough joked, acknowledging that their performance was a departure from what fans have come to expect from them. “We’ve always been the sweet, romantic couple, and now we got to be the sexy couple,” Hough said. “I got to have some fun. I got to show that I’ve been on the show for two years and I’ve grown up!”
Rumba Secrets: Sultry, steamy, seductive are all words to describe a properly executed rumba. But dancing cheek to cheek isn’t the only requirement of the dance. “Breath mints –- about nine or 10 of them before we go out there,” Dovolani joked after the show. He and partner Melissa Rycroft performed the rhythmic dance much to the delight of the audience. But as for her parents sitting in the front row, Rycroft confessed, “I didn’t look at them at all before, during or after we danced. I know they can appreciate it as art and not as this romantic-ness going on on-stage so it’s okay.”
The same thing was true for Mark Ballas and Shawn Johnson, whose rumba managed to be sultry without crossing the line. “My parents knew the dance was going to come up, and they knew what we were doing,” said Johnson. “They loved it. They thought it was a beautiful dance.” As for Johnson’s peach-toned, delicately sequined frock, she says the credit all goes to Ballas for designing it. “It’s my proudest season 8 outfit. I love it,” Ballas said. – Monica Rizzo
MORE:
• Dancing Recap: Lil’ Kim Wows the Crowd
• Dancing POLL: Was Chuck & Julianne’s Rumba Too Hot?
Kelsey McNeal/ABC (2)
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